Geoff Collins of Conyers has been named defensive coordinator at Mississippi State Friday.

Collins replaces Chris Wilson, who is expected to join Georgia as its defensive line coach according to a report on ESPN.com Friday night.

According to the Clarion Ledger, MSU coach Dan Mullen promoted Collins to be the full-time play-caller Friday morning.

Here's a snippet from the Clarion Ledger's article:
"There's no one in this state who wants to win as much as Dan does," MSU athletic director Scott Stricklin told The Clarion-Ledger on Friday. "I know he feels like we all do about the way it ended."

MSU started the season 7-0, rising as high as No. 11 in the Bowl Championship Series standings, before stumbling to an 8-5 record. On Tuesday, Mullen hinted at forthcoming changes and an upcoming self-evaluation of the program.

The first move arrived Friday, when Collins, MSU's second-year assistant coach, was promoted to defensive coordinator. It was a decision expected by many inside the program after the co-defensive coordinator was handed the temporary reins as the Bulldogs' play-caller in Tuesday's Gator Bowl.

At the time, Mullen said he wanted to "try something different" by moving Collins to the head of the defensive table. Results were mixed, but the Bulldogs looked better (17 of Northwestern's 34 points were set up by interceptions) against the Wildcats' up-tempo offense. MSU had struggled against similar offenses in the latter half of the season.

"Geoff is an exceptional defensive mind and his energy and passion are remarkable," Mullen said Friday in a news release. "His experience as a play-caller and previous experience as a defensive coordinator will make this an easy transition."

Collins attended Rockdale, before earning a bachelor's degree from Western Carolina in sports management and exercise science in 1995. While playing at Western Carolina he tallied 194 tackles as an outside linebacker and defensive end, helping it to a 7-4 record.

He began his coaching career at Western Carolina in 2002 as the defensive coordinator, defensive backs coach, before going to Georgia Tech as recruiting coordinator, Alabama as director of player personnel, UCF as linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator, Florida International as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach and then to MSU as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2011.